The City Council met: How today’s protest by ‘Gen Z regelt das’ on 28 October became a topic of discussion at the City Council meeting Video

Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar: Zum deutschen Artikel.

It is somewhat understandable that a certain sense of apprehension took hold amongst the Leipzig CDU parliamentary group that riot-like conditions might arise in Leipzig city centre today, Saturday 31 October. ‘Gen Z regelt das’ has called for a protest at 2 pm on Leipzig’s Augustusplatz, followed by a march along part of the Ringstraße. Initially, around 100 participants were expected. However, it now appears that thousands of young people have registered to take part. But will they remain peaceful? That was the pressing question that preoccupied the CDU parliamentary group at the council meeting on 28 October.

After all, the issues that are now driving Gen Z onto the streets in major German cities are the same as those in France, where the initial school protests escalated further and further over the course of several weeks. This was also because the French police repeatedly used force against them and the government did not even bother to take their demands seriously – effectively treating the young people’s demands as if they were all unjustified.

The call to action

In their call to action, ‘Gen Z regelt das’ highlighted these problems: ‘Rotting schools, compulsory military service, price rises, cuts to university funding and social services, surveillance and wars! Wherever we look, we see problems and crises. Yet although we young people are directly affected by austerity measures and the drive for rearmament, by dilapidated schools and rising prices, no one is listening to us. Instead, politicians and the government are making decisions that are ruining our future.

We’ve had enough of this! It’s time for things to change! To this end, we’re joining forces as Gen Z and taking a stand against a policy of neglect. We won’t let the attacks on young people and our lives go unanswered!

Meanwhile, there have been many voices from the media, the political sphere and the police who have tried to discredit our legitimate protest. When, for example, police union representative Jochen Kopelke publicly threatens ‘young rioting migrants’ with violence, it becomes clear who is trying to escalate the situation here. We stand firmly against these racist attempts to sow division!

Similarly, we condemn the demand by the Berlin Junge Union to deploy the Bundeswehr as a preventive measure against our youth protest. Quite apart from the fact that this is not constitutionally permissible without further ado, we see this as yet another attempt at intimidation. We will not allow this!

We will not allow ourselves to be divided into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ protests, nor into ‘rioting migrants’ and ‘normal young people’: on Saturday, we will stand together with tens of thousands of other young people and protest together for a future worth living – throughout Germany!”

The Urgent Question

It was as if they’d anticipated exactly how Leipzig’s CDU parliamentary group would react to the call. At the council meeting on 28 October, they immediately tabled an urgent question and fanned the flames: “According to media reports, protest events are being advertised for 31 October 2026 in several major German cities, including Leipzig, under the slogan ‘Gen Z’s got this’. In connection with these mobilisations, there are reports of calls on social media and via leaflets, some of which are said to contain content that glorifies or relates to violence.

Should such mobilisations also materialise in Leipzig, action must be taken early and decisively.”

CDU city councillor Julian Schröder raised the issue on behalf of his parliamentary group on 28 October. After all, there were indications in the meantime that not just 100 young people would be coming, but rather 4,900, as Schröder noted.

At least one thing is clear: more than 100 will be coming. This was also confirmed by Matthias Laube, Head of the Public Order Office. Stay calm. After all, there is nothing to suggest that the protest in Leipzig will escalate. In the meantime, a coordination meeting has also taken place with the organisers in Leipzig, who themselves are now expecting around 2,500 participants.

Naturally, this means the Public Order Office and the police will need to provide greater security than they would for just 100 demonstrators. Although even this figure could be exceeded, as Laube noted. However, the number of participants could end up in the low four-figure range.

In its response, the Public Order Office emphasised: “The Leipzig Police Headquarters will carry out operational measures. To date, there is no information available that would allow a comparison with the situation in France. The Leipzig Police Headquarters is continuously assessing developments and will adjust its operational planning as necessary.”

Talking about violence does not mean talking about legitimate demands

The tone of the CDU’s question, of course, shifted the focus back to potential violence. And Left Party city councillor Juliane Nagel quite rightly objected to this. For those who constantly talk only of violence allow the legitimate demands of young people to vanish into thin air. Then there’s no need to talk about them anymore.

It is just like ‘Day X’ on 3 June 2023, when the police kettled over 1,300 young people on Alexis-Schumsann-Platz and detained them for hours because a few individuals on the fringes of the demonstration had become violent. Instead of debating the cause of the demonstration, the focus was on violence. For years, the public prosecutor’s office investigated hundreds of peaceful demonstrators. One could certainly call this an excessive response to the young demonstrators.

Hopefully, this will not happen today, Saturday. Matthias Laube also expects the protest to remain peaceful. Today’s protest event begins at 2 pm on the Gewandhaus side of Augustusplatz. From there, the march will proceed along the Ring to Richard-Wagner-Platz and then via Brühl and Goethestraße back to Augustusplatz.